It sucks but apparently it costs a small fortune to maintain quality grass fields in that weather. Years ago I read some articles about Seattle’s decision and the cost difference was enormous. However I don't remember the absolute difference in annual cost - I think it was 100’s of thousands per year plus million(s) to install underground heaters initially. Still I wish they would do it.
that is one thing (among other things) that always confused me, England has more rain and grass pitches, so I always felt that argument never held water and this is the only "Major" soccer league to have plastic turf because they "can't afford" to maintain real grass. and yes puns intended
More rain, yes. But they don't get anywhere near as cold as the northern part of the USA. But I will also admit I know nothing about groundskeeping and what it requires to keep grass fields in good shape.
I know it's more expensive, but if they can afford it in Toronto, they should be able to afford it in Seattle. They will be installing grass for the World Cup in 2026 anyway, just make the change early and permanent!
I found an interesting Don Garber quote from an article in World Soccer Talk last July: “MLS promotes a lot of international games and we have been able to bring natural grass into those stadiums, but we’ve never done that for a regular season game,” Garber said. However, he added that it is his expectation that clubs would make that change. He says clubs can temporarily install a layer of real grass on top of the artificial turf below. “My expectations are that that’s what they will do, but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to figure all of that out.”
But Vancouver is pretty mild even in the heart of winter, like most of the PNW. IMO Vancouver having turf comes down to 1) land being crazy expensive to build an SSS and 2) Garber wanting to get that sweet, sweet market in the league, like a Canuck NYCFC.
now I'm curious to see how the Nordic countries handle it, to my knowledge the German league plays on grass and its gets pretty cold there, hopefully someone more knowledgeable with Nordic leagues can chime in
if I remember correctly, Becks and the Galaxy were under tremendous pressure from E$PN, to have him debut in that game and it hampered a lot of his time with the Galaxy but they had to pimp out Golden Balls to make a profit.
Aren't all of the turf fields with the exception of Portlands in multiple use stadiums (e.g. professional football in New England, Seattle and Charlotte)? I don't know Portland's issue other than it is owned by the City of Portland.
I believe that is the case and I guess we should also lump in Vancouver as the BC Lions of the CFL play at BC Place as well. as for those Football/Soccer venues its going to take a rash of injuries to star players in the NFL for those owners to even think about transitioning to grass.
And I’m pretty sure one of the Chelsea players made a really aggressive tackle on Becks. Totally uncalled for in a friendly.
There are quite a few teams in Sweden and Norway in particular that play on turf fields. Another example would be the Russian league although they’ve been banned from international competition at this point so it’s only effecting them. The German Bundesliga plays on natural grass surfaces only but there is a huge difference in surface quality in the more established teams vs. some of the smaller clubs that can’t invest in expensive heating and drainage infrastructure.So there you can maintain grass all year but is really expensive to do so. But my understanding is that even though MLS is strongly encouraging everyone to play on natural grass as has been pointed out, I think all of the turf surfaces in MLS are in non soccer specific buildings anyway so a whole lot more is involved than just the MLS team deciding it wants natural grass. You can maintain a grass field in Vancouver year round though, particularly with underground heating installed. I think BC Place also has a roof, doesn’t it?
Time will tell if you or I are right or wrong, but there is nothing in the Crew or Galaxy's record thus far this season to prove they are better than the Galaxy. More the opposite, as I don't think their strength of schedule, thus far, has been as strong as the Galaxy's. In terms of common opponents they have losses against the Loons and Charlotte vs the Galaxy's ties.
While I agree with your assessment on paper, I think Columbus gets the benefit of the doubt in MLS play so far this year as they have concurrently made the CONCACAF Champions League final and are defending MLS champs, while clearly we haven't achieved anything of note in many many years.
despite the distractions and them not dressing a full squad, Miami still takes it to Vancouver, its been a tough week for Vancouver.
I can listen to Callum Williams broadcast soccer all day, his voice really makes the game really seem important.
bunch of click baiting clowns at Marca, now I know to never get my news from this outlet "Lionel Messi stuns everyone by speaking English on camera for first time in Bad Boys trailer" https://www.marca.com/en/football/mls/2024/05/28/6655dea2ca474187278b4586.html and for those that don't want to give them clicks like I did, he mumbles "bad boys", I also recall he says Michelob Ultra in his other commercial but I guess that doesn't count as english.
I've only caught the aftermath, but apparently MLS had posted this "goal", then later deleted it. Yes, not every goal is a gorgeous bit of play or even a golazo, but you would think MLS social media team would have recognized this goal ain't gonna showcase the league. pic.twitter.com/teZemj2Nbk— Football Report (@FootballReprt) May 30, 2024
I was watching the game live with my brother and after that goal, we joked that they should include it as the sixth nominee for goal of the week just to troll both teams about that horrible, horrible display of soccer. For those who haven’t seen the goal, if you’ve seen the viral video of the t-ball game where the kid hits the grounder and then chaos erupts, and the kid gets hit in the head with the ball and falls down and the other kid rounds all the bases and scores— this was the MLS equivalent of that.
I was snooping in a Seattle forum - I don’t honestly know what - and aside from a growing discontent with their front office for prioritizing profit over attendance (sound familiar?) someone also criticized their player recruitment. Specifically they said our owners looked at LAG’s murderer’s row and decided [some player they signed] was the answer. Feels like bizarro world where LA is being praised for their roster moves and by Seattle no less.
CCC acolytes rejoice! The final is here. Concacaf Champions Cup Pachuca vs Columbus Crew Saturday June 1 6:15 PM pacific time Estadio Hidalgo Single Game Format Los Tuzos of Pachuca called that because more than 116 years ago some English miners formed a team called Pachuca Football Club and their mascot was a mole or tuzo. Pachuca was eliminated from the MX tournament by Club America and have been sitting idle waiting for this date to roll around for about 3 weeks. Crew has about a week rest prior to this match and the only concern is Cucho Hernandez who has been absent due to a back issue for a few weeks. I think they have been saving him for this match and he should be ready to play. They have also prepared by having their players sleep and spend as much time as possible in altitude tents installed in their homes and wearing elevation training masks in their workouts in and effort to acclimate to the venue. The venue is Estado Hidalgo which is the second highest stadium in Mexico at 8000 feet after Nemezio Diez and is higher than Azteca. Should be a hell of a final match. CREW!!!